bernd ellinghoven

Bernd Ellinghoven (24-08-1953 - 13-11-2023) Significant German chess composer and International Master of the FIDE

Bernd Ellinghoven, or bernd ellinghoven as he usually signed, composed generally helpmates or fairy direct mates. He became International Master in 2005. He was also an International Judge, the chief editor of the German magazine "feenschach" and together with Denis Blondel, prematurely deceased in summer 2012, he was the co-editor of the FIDE Albums and of a remarkable chess problems book collection, "Feenschach - Phenix".

He enjoyed composing with his friends - Grandmaster Hans Peter Rehm, Fadil Abdurahmanovic, Zdravko Maslar, Hans Gruber, Kjell Widlert, etc.

On the death of bernd ellinghoven (24.8.1953-13.11.2023)

von Günter Büsing

Apart from some earlier solving activities in the DSZ, my problem chess "career" began with my first visit to a Schwalbe meeting. It was organised by the solver legend Friedrich Burchard in Siegen in 1975. I didn't know any of the participants personally, Burchard was the only one besides Werner Speckmann and Ludwig Zagler who was familiar to me, at least by name. There was also a certain bernd ellinghoven among the participants, but - I must confess - I have no lasting memories of this meeting. That was soon to change.   When the Schwalben met in Bamberg two years later, I had become a member in the meantime and had also subscribed to feenschach and had therefore already come across bernd's name several times. In Bamberg, I was impressed by the committed behaviour of the then 24-year-old, especially in the controversial discussion about Hans Klüver's proposal to replace the term "experimental chess" with the old "fairytale chess". He was also very active in the absurd/comic, namely the discussion about Friedrich Burchard's motion to ban misprints in the Schwalbe by resolution. Our contacts intensified, especially via the feenschach channel and later when we both regularly attended PCCC meetings.     bernd was a problemist - we all were/are problemists. He distinguished himself from others through his comprehensive commitment and his drive for perfection. Thomas Brand recently honoured this on the occasion of bernd's 70th birthday (Die Schwalbe, issue 323, August 2023, pp. 184-185) and therefore does not need to be repeated here.        

But bernd was more than just an exceptional problem solver, he was a cultural man through and through, with a passion for literature, painting, music, visual arts, travelling (cultural trips, of course) and much more. In an interview with the magazine KARL (issue 1/2014, p. 16-23), he revealed that he had studied German and art in order to become an artist or writer. And that's somehow how it turned out: journalistic work about chess with spelling borrowings from Arno Schmidt, occasional poetry, sporadic object art in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp or Joseph Beuys - but not as a serious career, because you have to invest a lot of time for that, which he doesn't have. And so he found his ideal art form to be problem chess composition - which, unfortunately, is impossible to make a living from.

He combined his many interests as far as possible. Sometimes a meeting of chess collectors was combined with a visit to the opera, or a fairy chess travelogue was written in an extravagant/cumbersome baroque style ("Cumbersome report by the fairy chess reporter" in f-50, f-53, 1981/82). Special highlights were travelling together, opportunities for which included our annual visits to the PCCC and WFCC congresses. I have particularly fond memories of the 2011 congress in Jesi, where we spent a week recharging our cultural batteries in the sweltering heat: I had already set off the day before the congress began in order to visit Ravenna first. When I visited the tomb of Theodoric the Great there the next morning at a rather early hour, there were only two visitors on site: bernd and Christine. They had also taken the opportunity to soak up some culture and were on their way to Jesi via Venice and Ravenna. The chance meeting was followed by an intensive week, as far as the congress activities allowed, with visits to Lorenzo Lotto's paintings in the region. Other notable trips took us to Rio de Janeiro (2009), where the independence of the WFCC was the subject of intense debate, or to St Petersburg (1998), where we visited the Hermitage Museum twice and bernd could not help but be impressed by the many works on display there by Henri Matisse, the best painter in the world in his opinion at the time.

Around 50 years ago, Hemmo Axt discovered bernd as a climbing talent. One of their many tours together took them to the Verwall, and what happened to them there was described by Hemmo in his laudatory speech on bernd's 50th birthday Die Schwalbe, issue 202, August 2003 p. 187) - it was the birth of Verwall chess.

bernd was a restless spirit, his direct way of approaching things was not always to everyone's taste, but it was often used to clarify positions and bring about decisions. This was recognised and honoured by several institutions by awarding him honorary membership of the Schwalbe, the British Chess Problem Society and the WFCC, and the German Chess Federation awarded him the Silver Badge of Honour for his many years of service.

Throughout my life as a problemist, bernd was always there, especially during my time as editor, we were in close contact and had many conversations about the form and content of the magazines, as well as about God and the world. Having been in poor health for some time, he succumbed to cancer on 13 November. I miss him - we will all miss him!

Translated into English

Source: dieschwalbe.de (Issue 325, February 2024)